Teams & Riders Chris Froome Discussion Thread.

[Bexon30]

Froome was in deep trouble today, crash aside if he gets beat like that during the Tour it could destroy his confidence leading to more attacks. This years Tour looks set to be very good. Mentally Froome looks worried.

Plus from 3300m to 2800m to go I noticed him out the saddle today. So any talk of him not being able is false. His form is not as dominating as last year. Tala sky and Ryder kept pace well enough.

 

[JRanton]

Maybe he couldn't?

Of course he couldn't! It was blatantly obvious that he didn't have the legs given how he made up no ground on Contador when he started chasing on his own.

Christ, there's some nonsense written on this forum...

 

[Red Rick]

The way Froome crossed the finish line was very much like how he climbed San Luca in the 2009 Giro. Maybe he's finding his 2009 form back

 

[ILovecycling]

Froome was in deep trouble today, crash aside if he gets beat like that during the Tour it could destroy his confidence leading to more attacks. This years Tour looks set to be very good. Mentally Froome looks worried.

Plus from 3300m to 2800m to go I noticed him out the saddle today. So any talk of him not being able is false. His form is not as dominating as last year. Tala sky and Ryder kept pace well enough.

Yeah,I noticed that too,in contrary I dont think he is in significant worse form than 2013,but imo he doesnt have a confidence,and the mental thing while racing (esp climbing) is very important.I think the stage 2 was a massive blow to his confidence and he is panicking right now and dont believe in himself.

 

[Publicus]

He was out of the saddle quite a bit today, so I don't think it had anything to do with his elbow. I wonder if it was to take pressure off of his left hip that he apparently landed on yesterday (recall the ripped bib shorts). In any event, he rode very well today. So the crash definitely affected him. How much we won't really know until July.

What we do know for certain is that Porte can't pull back AC.

 

[Bushman]

I think you should be careful not underestimating Froome because of today's performance. He still won the time trial quite dominantly and although he couldnt drop Contador on the first MTF he was still the strongest. However this is very good signs for the racing at the Tour and the confidence that Contador will have now could be decisive.

 

[Bexon30]

He was out of the saddle quite a bit today, so I don't think it had anything to do with his elbow. I wonder if it was to take pressure off of his left hip that he apparently landed on yesterday (recall the ripped bib shorts). In any event, he rode very well today. So the crash definitely affected him. How much we won't really know until July.

What we do know for certain is that Porte can't pull back AC.

And if Porte can't do it now then how about in week 3 when everyone is into deep reserves? Neive is looking good though.

 

[_nm___]

Of course he couldn't! It was blatantly obvious that he didn't have the legs given how he made up no ground on Contador when he started chasing on his own.

Christ, there's some nonsense written on this forum...

he did make ground up on Contador but Contador put in another acceleration when he saw that Froome was coming back (and i think that's the acceleration that broke Froome's moral):

1 km to go --- 18 seconds
400m to go --- 10 seconds
0m to go --- 20 seconds

 

[darwin553]

I'm happy to put it down to the possibility that the crash had an adverse effect on his performance today.

 

[qwerty16]

And if Porte can't do it now then how about in week 3 when everyone is into deep reserves? Neive is looking good though.

Maybe Henao will turn out to be in good shape. Or Kennaugh.

 

[qwerty16]

he did make ground up on Contador but Contador put in another acceleration when he saw that Froome was coming back (and i think that's the acceleration that broke Froome's moral):

1 km to go --- 18 seconds
400m to go --- 10 seconds
0m to go --- 20 seconds

No he (Contador) didn't. Froome was even overtaken by Talansky and Hesjedal who he dropped just before.

 

[elfed68]

Maybe he should concentrate more on riding his bike than writing a book!

If Contador can enjoy being dragged up by the Sky train as well as Froome, shouldn't their be some change?

Sky's tactics are so predictable and hardly top secret so I'm sure the other strong teams have based their strategies around countering this.

 

[cineteq]

Froome needs to be replaced by Wiggins for the Tour - 3 weeks too long for him.

 

[Granville57]

I'm happy to put it down to the possibility that the crash had an adverse effect on his performance today.

So I'm not the only one with a brain on here.

Whew.

 

[SiAp1984]

No reason to panic. Froome made AC suffer in the mountains and owned him in a TT before the crash. He was only gapped after the crash (and after making a tactical error when not following AC immediately; Froomes acceleration showed that he would have been able to do so, but just misjudged the situation when he decided tomstay behind Porte).

Froome will be fine for the Tour. He still is the stronger rider of these two.

As to tactics, I still think the train still works pretty well. Ad Henao to it and nobody will dare to attack until the final climb of any day at the Tour. And Froome will be able to finish the job by then.

 

[ILovecycling]

No reason to panic. Froome made AC suffer in the mountains and owned him in a TT before the crash. He was only gapped after the crash (and after making a tactical error when not following AC immediately; Froomes acceleration showed that he would have been able to do so, but just misjudged the situation when he decided tomstay behind Porte).

Froome will be fine for the Tour. He still is the stronger rider of these two.

As to tactics, I still think the train still works pretty well. Ad Henao to it and nobody will dare to attack until the final climb of any day at the Tour. And Froome will be able to finish the job by then.

Every single point you wrote here in bolded will be turn to ashes comes 3rd week of Tour.

How many Froome fans want to have an avatar bet with me?That Froome climbing is far from enough when Alberto Contador brings his A - game at Tour

 

[cauberg1999]

Every single point you wrote here in bolded will be turn to ashes comes 3rd week of Tour.

How many Froome fans want to have an avatar bet with me?That Froome climbing is far from enough when Alberto Contador brings his A - game at Tour

what are terms of a bet? the best climber in 3rd week or the best climber in 3 weeks? if 2 we might try

 

[ILovecycling]

what are terms of a bet? the best climber in 3rd week or the best climber in 3 weeks? if 2 we might try

I will pm you.

edit:your PM is disabled,pls change it.
edit2: oh my,you are banned ,pm me when allowed again!

 

[PirazziAttacksVino]

No reason to panic. Froome made AC suffer in the mountains and owned him in a TT before the crash. He was only gapped after the crash (and after making a tactical error when not following AC immediately; Froomes acceleration showed that he would have been able to do so, but just misjudged the situation when he decided tomstay behind Porte).

Froome will be fine for the Tour. He still is the stronger rider of these two.

As to tactics, I still think the train still works pretty well. Ad Henao to it and nobody will dare to attack until the final climb of any day at the Tour. And Froome will be able to finish the job by then.

That's bull****! Froome didn't follow AC immediately because he couldn't.

 

[maxmartin]

huge blow to CF's confidence, haha looks like other teams are also picking up with scientific training

 

[luckyboy]

Froome's sneering putdowns in his book look ridiculous now

 

[Publicus]

Froome's sneering putdowns in his book look ridiculous now

How's your coffee Alberto?

 

[Journey Man]

Watch out Mikel Nieve...

Obviously, just as Froome felt justified in doing so, does this mean that Nieve can now ride off up the mountain in the TdF leaving Froome to crack?

Seems Froome isn't reading the race very well and the only tactic team Sky have is using the numbers to sit on the rivet. When that fails, all bets are off.

This bodes well for the TdF being less of a procession.

 

[Jelantik]

everyone who says that Froome isn't at his 2013 level is delusional. He is just as strong as last year, but it's just unfortunate that this year, the great one is back to his form . Also, last year everyone is behind sky so called scientific training. Looks like this year everyone is catching up... Coffee anyone?

 

[Red Rick]

The way Froome crossed the finish line was very much like how he climbed San Luca in the 2009 Giro. Maybe he's finding his 2009 form back

The way how he climbed today was very much like he rode all his career before 2011